Above: View over Suhl (Germany) from the Ottilienkapelle. Attributed: SehLax, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASuhl_pano.jpg
Note: Most of the larger buildings were erected under the communist East German government 1945-1989.
Note: Most of the larger buildings were erected under the communist East German government 1945-1989.
About Our Name
Evangelische Hauptkirche St. Marien in Suhl, Barockbau von 1757, Blick vom Domberg at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASuhl-Kirche-St-Marien.jpg
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The earliest date so far . . .. . . for the surname Wackes in Suhl, Thuringia, Germany is contained in Mormon genealogical records. Heinrich Wackes was born in Suhl in 1579 and married in 1607. While there is no evidence that he was in the direct line of the family covered in this history, it does indicate that the name has been in Suhl for almost 500 years.
Several large Suhl-wide fires prior to 1700 destroyed most records at St. Marien's Church. The church was razed several times and subsequently rebuilt in 1757. The Cross Church is the second Lutheran Church in Suhl, built to accommodate the growing number of parishioners.. |
Who We Are |
We are the descendants of Johann Heinrich Wackes.
In the baptismal, marriage, and death records of Saint Marien’s Church (St. Marienkirche or Hauptkirche) in Suhl are found the names of the known ancestors of our family, with Johann Heinrich Wackes, (born c. 1730) the earliest for whom we have historical evidence. He was a Lutheran by religion and a textile worker by vocation. |
Origins of Name |
The Wackes family name is borne by three family groups tracing their histories to the city of Suhl in Thuringia, Germany. There are other Wackes families in present day Germany, primarily in the Berlin and former Silesia areas.1 However, since our records consistently place the family in Suhl, we will concentrate on the name in that area.
The origin of the name itself has been the source of some speculation. There are three primary trains of thought. |
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A Latin Source?
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First, the name Wackes could be a derivative of the Latin vagas ("cattleman") or vagus ("vagabond"). The surname could be borne by descendants of ancient cattle herders or vagabonds. 2 This hypothesis is set forth by genealogical work done by members of the Wacke (no “s”) family.3
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An Alsatian Name?
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Second, the name Wackes could have originated in Alsace, France. There are several reasons for this proposal.
First, "Wackes" is a term of derision applied to German-speaking inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine in eastern France. Ownership of these coal and agricultural rich territories was long disputed between Germany and France. Alsace-Lorrain was ceded to Germany by France as a result of Germany's victory in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). In World War I, when the territory belonged to Germany, the German-speaking males conscripted into the Kaiser’s armies resisted cooperation at every turn, favoring citizenship in France with its less controlling form of centralized government. Their actions of resistance and actual sabotage caused the Germans to assign troops just to keep the Alsatian “Wackes” under control. |
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"The Zabern Affair"
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A event took place in Alsace in 1914 in which the Alsatians were insulted by a young German officer who referred to them as “der Wackes.” This event is known as “The Zabern Affair.” It became a scandal in Germany and brought heavy criticism to the "we can do no wrong" attitude of the German military.
As with other class and ethnic slurs, the German-speaking Alsatians did not mind being referred to as "der Wackes" in conversations among themselves, but when a Saxon outsider used the term, it was interpreted as a slang expression of derision in the same category as “Spic,” “Nigger,” “Fish Eater,” “Kraut,” or “Limey,” etc. |
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The Zabern Affair: "The Alsatian Bogeyman" (1913)
Germany annexed Alsace-Lorraine in 1871; this followed the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The administration of the province was difficult, since the local population resented being incorporated into Germany. The conflict between civilians and Prussian military authorities culminated in the so-called Zabern Affair of 1913, which occurred in the Alsatian town of the same name. It began when a Prussian lieutenant used the derogatory term "Wackes" to refer to an Alsatian recruit. The story appeared in the French and German press, and the lieutenant faced threats and heckling from the local population, who believed that he had insulted Alsatians in general. The army responded by imprisoning local citizens. The cartoon below, which was drawn by Olaf Gulbransson and published in Simplicissimus in November 1913, features small, powerless Alsatian citizens and a larger-than-life Prussian officer, who scoops up frightened villagers. The affair deepened feelings of mistrust toward the German army.
-- German History Documents at:http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=1702
Germany annexed Alsace-Lorraine in 1871; this followed the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. The administration of the province was difficult, since the local population resented being incorporated into Germany. The conflict between civilians and Prussian military authorities culminated in the so-called Zabern Affair of 1913, which occurred in the Alsatian town of the same name. It began when a Prussian lieutenant used the derogatory term "Wackes" to refer to an Alsatian recruit. The story appeared in the French and German press, and the lieutenant faced threats and heckling from the local population, who believed that he had insulted Alsatians in general. The army responded by imprisoning local citizens. The cartoon below, which was drawn by Olaf Gulbransson and published in Simplicissimus in November 1913, features small, powerless Alsatian citizens and a larger-than-life Prussian officer, who scoops up frightened villagers. The affair deepened feelings of mistrust toward the German army.
-- German History Documents at:http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=1702
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In the book, State, Society and Mobilization in Europe During the First World War, the title of chapter 7 by Alan Kramer is entitled, “Wackes at war: Alsace-Lorraine and the failure of German national mobilization, 1914-1918.” 4 Kramer describes how the 1914 event caused a national furor, similar to what would happen in our time if an army officer referred to the “Niggers” or "Wetbacks" under his command.
Hence, there is some credibility to the thesis that the surname Wackes indicates a line of people of Alsatian origin who eventually settled in eastern Germany. They either carried the name with them or were so labeled when they arrived in eastern Germany. (Left: "German Bogey Man," by Olaf Gulbransson, Simplicissimus, November 1913. at http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=1702) |
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A second linking of Wackes with Alsace is how "Wackes" is used in Alsace-Lorrain to denote “comedy” and/or “prankster.” There are annual “Wackes” events in Alsace-Lorrain. Participants perform with masks and costumes. “Wackes” is a mythological prankster in the fashion of Peter Pan. 4 In a witty remark about regional nicknames, one performer said: “But of course! There is something! In the Pfalz [the area in Germany east of the Rhine River, also known as the Rhineland or the Palatinate] one says ‘Wackes,’ applying it to the Alsatian, but occasionally, if needed, it can also refer to the Frenchmen -- meaning ‘vagabond.’ ” 5
Mr. Wackes pictured left is a regular performer at annual celebrations in Alsace. He depicts a trickster, prankster or happy vagabond. |
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Huguenots?
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Another possible support for this idea comes from the fact that in the mid 1600s, Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia encouraged many Huguenots from France (French Calvinists) to settle in Prussia and Brandenburg for the purpose of adding troops to his expanding military. Perhaps some of these were referred to as “Wackes” by the Prussians, or perhaps they carried the actual surname with them from France. There is within our family lore a story received from Annie Wackes of at least one ancestor who served in the Prussian cavalry.
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And then there's the highly touted Dr Wackes restaurant in Cologne featuring Alsatian cuisine. See at http://www.wackes-weinstube.de
And we should consider also the definition of "Wackes" in The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001, indicating that "a word study shows the name Wackes to derive from the area formerly known as Lotharingia, which contained among other territories, Alsace and Lorraine. . . the name Wackes is the name 'for Lotharingian ones.'” 7 |
Weavers from England?
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Under Hitler all families had to show their Arian heritage back four generations to prove that they were not Jews. Thus, when the father of Rudy Wackes in Stuttgart was researching his family history, he discovered a report that at the end of the Thirty Years War of 1618-1648 the Duke of Saxony, in order to rebuild his textile industry, sent for a number of weavers to emigrate to Saxony from England. One of these, proposes his study, was an English family of weavers with the surname Wackes. There were, in fact, numerous ancestors in Rudy’s genealogy who were weavers. This story was related to me in writing by Rudy, cousin of Helmut Wackes, whom I visited in Dusseldorf in 1998, and a copy of whose genealogy I have in my possession.
This gains some credibility from the fact that a current search I have done of marriage/death/property ownership records in England from the 1600’s shows the presence of persons with the surname Wackes in England during that time period. There are several family groups currently in England with the surname Wackes. 8 However, as I have already noted above, there were Wackes in Suhl at least 100 years before the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648. |
Roman Soldiers?
3,000 BC in France
Other Wackes to Explore
Suhl 1575 English Wackes
Other Wackes in USA
Afro-American Wackes
3 Nieces follow Karl
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All of the hypothesis above must be held in tension by the fact that the descendants of Karl Louis Wackes I carry the DNA type G2a3b that is shared by less than 2% of the world’s currently tested population. There is some speculation that this DNA G2a3b haplotype originated in Syria and was carried by troops in the Roman legions sent to the frontier areas of Europe. Wherever these troops were headquartered, especially along the Danube River, the dividing line between “the civilized Romans” and the “German barbarians” (‘speakers of unknown languages’), show the presence of this rather rare DNA type. Thus, we might be descendants of a Roman soldier!
A Roman legionnaire or legionnaires could have settled in eastern Germany, in England, or in eastern France, as the ancestor(s) of current Wackes family members. But hold on! That DNA type appeared 5,000 years ago in SW France! Facinating are the findings from two caves in which the skeletal remains of individuals who died or were placed there after death. Individuals from both caves, one dated 3000 BC and the other at 670 AD, are very closely aligned with the Wackes family DNA. 9 A comparison of the DNA findings can be read or downloaded from DropBox. The account of the discoveries of the Treillis Cave in SW France can be read here. The discoveries made at Ergolding, Bavaria can be read here. Other Wackes records to explore: A brief visit to Salt Lake City and the Mormon genealogical holdings produced the following names. Heinrich Wackes was born in 1575 in Suhl, Saxony, Prussia. He married “Mrs. Heinrich Wackes” in 1606 in Suhl. She was born in 1579 in Suhl. They had a daughter, Catharina, born in 1607 in Suhl, who on November 11,1635 married Jacob Kessler. Heinrich’s presence in Suhl casts serious doubt on the story that the Wackes line came to Suhl from England at the close of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648. Michael Wackes was born in 1652 in Suhl and married “Mrs. Michael Wackes” in 1683 in Suhl. They had a daughter, Margaretha, born in 1684 in Suhl, who married Martin Weiss on July 10, 1705, in Suhl. Johann August Wackes and his wife, Johanna Elisabetha Hagenbergerin, gave birth to Margaretha Dorothea Wackes on November 22, 1797. She married Johannes Triebel on June 5, 1818 in Suhl. But in the same year as Margaretha’s birth in Suhl, across the English Channel in Trent, Nottingham, England, a Frances Wackes married William Marshall on November 2, 1684!! Selina Wackes, born in 1855 in Cirencester, Gloucester, is listed in the census of 1881 as a servant girl of Samuel Sargent living in Siddington, Gloucester. (Source, Census returns for Cirencester, 1841-1891 / Great Britain. Census Office.) And who was Gardiner Wackes, born in 1850 in Hillsdale, Michigan, USA who married Ada S. Volbun September 14, 1872 in Michigan? The 1850 Census lists Susan Wackes, "Domestic," born in Ohio. Who is Mary Wackes, born in 1860 in Canada, who married John N. McDonald November 19, 1882 in Alpena, Michigan? Or the Wackes persons in Texas, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, and Maryland in 19th century census records? All traces, however, point back to Suhl. Of even more interest are the following. In the 1900 U.S. Census, who is Alfred Wackes, age 77, who with his household lived in Jamesville Town, North Carolina? Born in North Carolina, March 1823, Alfred was black. Based upon his year and place of birth, he most certainly was a slave prior to the Civil War. He married his fourteen-year-old wife, Anice, in 1863, in the middle of the Civil War. He was 41. Living at home in 1900 were their children Elizabeth (23), Cathrine (22), Annie (18), and Alfred (16). Alfred was a farm laborer, his three daughters were cooks, and Alfred, Jr., is listed as a cart boy. Mota Wackes arrived on the ship “Avare” in New York City on October 1921. She was born in St. Phillip, Barbados in 1904 and is listed in the ship’s registry as being a black female, age 17. One mystery was solved in 2015 when information about Irma, Else, and Clara Wackes came to light via Ancestry.com. They were three daughters of Ferdinand Otto Wackes who as teens emigrated to the U. S. and located to Philadelphia where their uncle, Charles (Karl) Louis Wackes, had settled with his family. Fritz Wackes, great-grandson of Ferdinand, had informed me in Suhl in 1998 that the family had lost track of the three after they arrived in America. None of the three had children. |
Below is a slide show created in 2014 of the Heinrichs May Feast in Suhl (Heinrichser Manifest in Suhl). Heinrichs was a town adjacent to Suhl during the childhood of Karl Wackes in the mid-19th century. The descendants of his older brother, Ferdinand Oswald, still live in the house of Ferdinand's son, Wilhelm Otto, in Heinrichs. It is quite possible that some members of the Wackes family lived in Heinrichs as well as Suhl.
The Heinrichser Manifest is a fund raising effort to restore the 16th century Heinrichs Rathouse which had been damaged in the Thirty Years War by Croatian Catholic troops.
Heinrichs is actually older than Suhl, being referenced in a 1111 AD source, while the earliest date referencing Suhl is 1318. Heinrichs was incorporated into Suhl in 1936.
The Heinrichser Manifest is a fund raising effort to restore the 16th century Heinrichs Rathouse which had been damaged in the Thirty Years War by Croatian Catholic troops.
Heinrichs is actually older than Suhl, being referenced in a 1111 AD source, while the earliest date referencing Suhl is 1318. Heinrichs was incorporated into Suhl in 1936.
Resources
- Email response from Rolf Wackes to my inquiry about the origins of his family. October 5, 2004. rolf.christl.wackes@t-online.de.
- Friedrich Kluge, Etymologisches Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache, 1924. This is not a very pleasant discovery to those of us bearing the surname, an Alsatian term of abuse for a loafer. Wackes also became a term used by Germans for Alsatians who displayed an un-German attitude (Wesseln und Schmidt, Deutscher Wortschatz, 1930. See also the article in Wikipedia at http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wackes&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=10&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DWackes%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26rls%3Den-us%26sa%3DN
- Received in an email from Tom Wack, Wheeling, West Virginia, 1997.
- State, Society and Mobilization in Europe During the First World War, John Horne, editor. Cambridge University Press: 1997. ISBN 0521522668. A limited preview of the book is found at http://books.google.com/books?id=jEMAAOmh1vAC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq=wackes+at+war&source=web&ots=FRDQJkyROa&sig=3XTkXNBd25o13NkUuRiVnnrxugw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1 See also “The Zabern Affair.” It was an extract from Chancellor von Bethmann-Hollweg’s report to the Reichstag on December 3, 1913 (Stenographische Berichte ‘Uber die Verhandlungen des Reichstages’ 1913-1914, CCXCI, 6155-58).
- From “The site of the Newspaper of the SPECTACLES in Haut-Rhin “ at http://www.jds.fr/nuits/breves/bistrot_breves119.htm
- D'r Wackes, Benesisstraße 59 , Friesenviertel , Cologne, Germany Phone - +49 221 2573 456
- The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2001
- FamilyAncestry.com. The 1871 British Census shows four Wackes family members living in Kent, England. Elizabeth M Wackes (b.c. 1816), married to George Wackes (b.c. 1806-1871); George I Wackes (b.c. 1827) married to Sophia Wackes (b.c. 1832).
- See http://www.worldfamilies.net/forum/index.php?topic=10646.0 and also http://www.cmj.hr/2009/50/3/19480023.htm